Joy of Socks

Things I should know by now

2010-07-03T17:02:00.001-07:00

There are a number of things I feel that I should know by now. For instance I know that any movie involving small children or animals in peril will reduce me to a sobbing mess (just typing Free Willy, Empire of the Sun and Precious has made me mist up); any garment involving gathers makes me look like the back of a bus; and a third cocktail is always a bad idea.

But there are also things I should know by now, but for some reason I feel faintly embarrassed that I dont. Like superannuation. Surely I should have more of a handle on this by now. More importantly, and interestingly and embarrassingly, I dont know what the difference is between worsted and aran weight yarn. Ok, so one is heavier than the other, but just when I thought I had a handle on it, I discovered the intriguing third category, heavy worsted.

My lack of knowledge about worsted versus aran manifested when I cast on the Berkshire Dolman sweater. Initially I cast on in the yarn formerly known as Madelinetosh Worsted, which has been reclassified as a dk weight. After knitting one side it was apparent that the Madtosh was waaaay to lightweight. My second attempt was in Valley Yarns Berkshire, which WEBS called a heavy worsted. While the weight was right, the colour was wrrrrrrong.

Finally I cast on in Jo Sharp Silk Road Aran, and as I slaved away I had a sneaking suspicion that the aran weight was too light too. Still I was determined, and on finishing and checking the pattern specs out on Ravelry, I saw that what I had thought of as an aran weight, was listed as bulky! Arrrrrgh! Now I have a lovely warm sweater, which I suspect is going to stretch like crazy.

But my sweater has secret power. I put it on and it transformed me. Can you see the similarity?

B is for buttons!

2010-06-28T21:00:00.001-07:00

Is it so very wrong to start a new project purely because one has found the most gorgeous buttons?

Long time coming

2010-05-27T22:24:00.000-07:00

Yes, its been a while between posts. Still in that time I've managed to produce three substantial finished objects!

All these FOs represent a substantial departure from the philosophy with which I started this blog. Back then it was all about the quick fix from a small object. But after knitting a bazillion (well it feels like a bazillion) socks, the turned heel no longer held any mystery. And now I've just finished two cardigans!

The first is Rosamund, made from Cascade 220. It was the first time I've used Cascade, and it softened pleasingly on blocking. I struggled with gauge on this project, and as a result the button placement is off. I need to sew a hook and eye onto the top of the collar to keep it sitting flat. But overall, this is nice and warm and allows easy access to the milk bar. More on that later.

The buttons are made of horn, and I especially like the way their slightly organic shape works with the cables.

The second cardigan is Manu. I was desperate to make this cardi, and it has lived up to my expectations. It is warm, stylish and the details are lovely! I'm so pleased that I'm waiting to make another. The yarn is Madtosh DK in Tart. It was lovely to work with and deserving of the hype surrounding it. While the pattern recommended using a yarn with a halo to disguise the short rows shaping the neckline, I think the fuzz-free dk coped well with the short rows.

I especially like the pleating around the neckline.

But the most important, and demanding FO at Casa Joy and Widower at the moment is B2! (I suppose he is more of a WIP, really. )

B2 arrived 11 March 2010. Mr Wriggly is taking his big brother role seriously and introducing him to all manner of dirt, earth moving equipment and dinosaurs.

Coraline completed!

2010-03-07T15:09:00.000-08:00

Finally, buttons on and the slightly cooler weather has allowed this snap. Its still a bit of a mystery to me how this will look when my body shape is normal, but it seems to fit well around the neck!

A non-sweat FO

2010-02-28T01:29:00.000-08:00

Finally, an FO I can blog about! Its been stinking here in Sydney, and being 9 months pregnant has meant that I currently spend most of my time sweating. We arent talking a little light lady glow here, we are talking the full athletic exertion style perspiration, except that something as un-athletic as turning the page of the newspaper causes it.

I've actually got two other finished objects, both cardigans, to blog about but I cant bring myself to put them on for photographs. Just typing that has inspired a fresh bout of sweating! They will have to wait till post birthday/the onset of more autumnal weather.

Instead I've finally finished B2's baby blanket! Its a Mirabilis in Eco Yarn's worsted weight organic cotton. The colour is called Serendipity.

I'm very pleased with this, not the least because now its done I feel like the baby can actually be born. Phew. Ten days to go (in theory anyway) today!

A Tale of Two Cardies (with apologies to Mr Dickens)

2010-01-10T12:40:00.000-08:00

As mentioned before, I've become obsessed with cardigans. One of the questions that has seemed to be occupying my mind has been 'how many grey cardigans do I need?'. The answer appears to be 'at least two'.

One is Coraline. This has been a truly lovely knitting experience. The pattern is well written and the instructions were clear enough to get me through several new techniques (such as i cord edging and smocking) without any ripping back. I used Jo Sharp Alpaca Silk Georgette in Pebble, which was a dream to knit.

I made the medium and the only mods I made were to add an inch to the body and arms. If I were to make this again, I'd add an extra inch again to the arms (so 2 extra inches in total) but that's because I quite like my wrists to be warm. As it is, the ends of the sleeves sit just above my wrists, which is fine. At the moment its impossible to tell if the body length is ok and where the hem sits in relation to my waist, as my waist has long since disappeared. I guess finding out how it really looks will be a winter surprise.

Despite wearing it several times, and receiving lots of compliments, I still havent quite finished it. Yup, its the buttons that are yet to be attached. So until I triumph against button inertia, I havent got a proper photo to post. This one will have to do in the mean time.

After cruising through Coraline, Rosamund has proved a bit more willful. Gauge issues and my inability to read simple cable instructions lead to a couple of false starts, but now we are nicely in the groove. I have made a bit of a mistake with the cabling around the first button hole, but I am choosing to think of that as a 'feature' rather than a 'mistake'. Heres an in progress shot.

Its been very hot here in Sydney, so celebrate weather where only the lightest clothes are desirable, I've been laying in stocks of worsted weight yarn. Maybe I'm subliminally inspired by the exceptionally cold weather in the northern hemisphere. I've certainly been inspired by Madelinetosh and her colourways, and in a very short period of time I've managed to get three sweater quantities of yarn in Venetian, Tart worsted weight and Tart in a fingering weight. It seems the grey cycle has broken!

Lovely Tarty goodness! What will you be?

Beautiful Venetian, what gorgeous thing are you going to be?

Long time coming

2009-11-01T18:49:00.000-08:00

Well, this blog post has been a long time coming. All sorts of reasons, but chief amongst them has been wips having repeated dunkings in the frog pond, having a sudden desire to make big (for me anyway) projects and most surprisingly of all, managing morning sickness.

Yes, Mr Wriggly will be joined by a sibling sometime in early March. Its been such an enormous surprise. It was a mighty victory for medical technology when Mr Wriggly arrived. So when I felt seedy, bloated and tired I just assumed that middle age was setting in. When the blood test for pregnancy came back positive, I secretly thought I was having some kind of powerful bout of wishful thinking. However ultrasounds and the passage of time have revealed to me that B2 really is floating around soaking up all the extra icecream I've needed to eat.

My Wriggly seems blissfully unaware. Phew. Here is a snap of the bathing beauty, personal styling courtesy of the Knit Widower.

On the knitting front, I seem to have been struck my a longing for cardigans. I forged ahead on Little Birds, but its been resting since I realised its going to be a looooong time before I can fit it around my waist. Still, its looking pretty and is at an interesting stage. Especially now that bloody never ending beaded ribbing is done!

I've also cast on a Coraline, which will be useful for next winter. Its great swathe of stocking stitch is also proving soothing television knitting. I'm quite looking forward to the construction of this cardigan. I'm loving the built in the icord edging and the knitted hem, but am hoping that that roll and pucker will block out.

I've never done a knitted yoke before. Anyone got any tips?

The reason why things have been quiet

2009-08-08T01:27:00.000-07:00

Theres a reason why things have been quiet on the Joy front. I have a stack of ufos that only need a short burst of energy to finish - but can I summon it up? Not even with a stack of chocolate and some time to myself! Here they are:

Cancan gloves in Madtosh Crow - looking rather promising at this stage, so I'll probably concentrate my efforts here.

My Jumping on the Bandwagon Ishbel in Colinette Jitterbug Velvet Plum. Only needs another two lace repeats - which I think is the grand total of eight rows.

Entomology, which is coming along rather nicely. Its in Wired for Fiber Hero.

There is an FO in the midst of this embarrassment of UFOs. Here is a Naughtie for Hugo Moller.

But the real reason for the inactivity has been because Mr Wriggly has been doing some knitting all of his own. Can you see where?

NB: I didnt make his jumper, a friend of my Mum's did. Its a lovely one isnt it?

It was a one eyed one horned flying purple people eater

2009-07-05T14:44:00.001-07:00

It was my Mum's birthday recently, so I made her some Tadpole socks in Colinette Jittterbug Purple Passion. They were such a victorious, unrepentant shade of purple they reminded me irresistibly of the old song about the purple people eater. Here they are in action with Mr Wriggly, who was pretty keen on them too.

Speed knitting

2009-06-20T16:45:00.000-07:00

I do like my hairdresser, but recently she sheared me. When I went to get a trim last week, the word 'short' must have been mentioned at some stage (eg "my, what a short skirt", or "yes please, a short black would be great"). Regardless of the context though, I came away with very, very short hair. The shaver was even used!

I walked in the front door, thanked the Knit Widower for his supportive gasp because clearly it could only be a gasp of admiration, not, for example, shock, and immediately cast on a Thermis.

Once the Thermis was off the needles, it was clear it needed some mates, so I whipped up yet another pair of Evangelines with the left over yarn (Sundara, Royal Footguards worsted weight).

Now I am much toastier, but still quite shorn.

The amada fights back!

2009-06-11T01:34:00.001-07:00

Not only is the UFO amada fighting back, with me casting on the lovely Marlene despite two looming birthday deadlines, but its ally, the stash, is also growing! Eeeeee!

Yes, I had some stash enhancement at the Craft Fair at Darling Harbour this week. It was pretty amazing, I hadnt been before and I hadnt realised just how huuuuge paper crafting is. Luckily I was able to find what I wanted pretty quickly and leave before the crowds starting heaving. More on the stash reinforcements later.

Treats! And and FO (take that amada!)

2009-06-05T01:26:00.000-07:00

When I was little, I loved lucky dips with an unbridled devotion. At any school fete, local show or gymkhana I could locate the lucky dip and blow all my money in one hard core session. Its probably just as well I never figured out to work the pokies*.

This seems to have translated into a passion yarn clubs. After all, there is a large element of luck dip about a yarn club. Sometimes the yarns are sensational, sometimes they end up on a Ravelry destash thread quicker than you can say "Jeezus!" when you get your credit card bill (which is always a strong possibility with our exchange rate).

This week brought two lucky dips into my home. The first (which actually arrived more than a week ago, and been carried from room to room to look at in different lights) is from Knitting Inspirations's Lace Club. Its a beautiful skein of Cashlana in Ocean. I guess it doesnt strictly fit the lucky dip analogy, you get to choose your colourway in this club, but as I'd never seen the yarn before, it felt like a lucky dip winner to me! The yarn package also included some gorgeous stitch markers and a tape measure with which Mr Wriggly has fallen in love.

Today's arrival was from the Needle Food Sock Club. Out of New Zealand comes this beautiful, hand dyed sock yarn and treats! Stitch markers, Freddos, an exotic woolwash and some bamboo dpns hiding up the back of the photo. Cant wait for next month's shipment!

And finally an FO, from the aforeblogged UFO amada. The Hot Flush Rock and Weave socks. Made for Liza, modeled by Liza. I suspect she is wearing them this very moment, while snacking on ruburb crumble and watching Friday night crime.

*slot machines

Its a space armada!

2009-05-28T20:51:00.000-07:00

How many UFOs does it take to make an invasion force? I reckon I'm getting pretty close to a battalion here.

Here are my three socks in progress. Waterfall Socks in Hero, Rozas Socks in Serenity and Rock and Weave Socks in Hot Flash (which I keep calling Hot Flush). There is a rather special project on the end, Heathers Mitts.

Heres a little close up of them. They are killers, 2mm needles. At this rate, I reckon they might be ready by next winter.

Hanami, finally

2009-05-08T19:31:00.000-07:00

Finally, almost a year to the day of casting on, I have finished the Hanami Stole. I started it a few days before Mr Wriggly was born, thinking that I'd have a shot at finishing it because he was never ever going to come out. Ha. Boy, did he show me.

It was only two weeks ago that I felt mentally able to cope with the basket weave pattern again, which was a complete grind. The cherry blossom pattern just flew by though. I'm so pleased with how it turned out. The Sea Silk Handmaiden yarn is wonderful to knit with and the stitch definition is superb.

Here are the specs: two skeins of Sea Silk Handmaiden in Ebony. The idea for a Hanami in this yarn in this colour is totally ripped off from Splityarn. The skein used for the basket weave end was darker than the cherry blossom end. The cherry blossom skein had more copper highlights, and dare I say it, the odd undyed fleck. I beaded the ends with tiny, pinkish, glass beads, that are almost impossible to photograph. If I knew then what I know now, I'd have used larger beads as they have been mostly swallowed by the yarn. Of course, in searching for the link to Splityarn's Hanami, I just found her tutorial about how to do a beaded cast off. Hey ho.

Its destined to be the divine Ms N's birthday present. I'll try and get a shot of her modeling it.

I'm starting back at work on Monday, four days a week. The Knit Widower is going to be Mr Wriggly's primary parent. Its all a bit daunting really. I ran into Six and a Half Stitches in the newsagents this morning and she gave me some comforting words about managing the work-family-knitting-life balance. Thank you SaaHS! I'm sure once its all happening, it will all be ok.

As requested

2009-05-07T20:10:00.000-07:00

Its hard to tell where most of the food went - on his top, around his mouth or into his mouth. Unusually, he doesnt seem to have wiped any through his hair.

We're back!

2009-05-05T20:39:00.001-07:00

Hurrah for informed camera advice from you all (both blog comments and other advice), hurrah for ebay and a lovely man who actually delivered the camera to my home, hurrah for photogenic children, hurrah for knitting and an even bigger hurrah for a fab camera.

It can do this:

And this:

And it even shows that scientists are wrong. Dinosaurs did not evolve, they were knitted....

Its a Cannon G10 Powershot, and despite having a name like a drink an underage girl would overindulge in, it is fantastic.

(Photos top to bottom: Hanami, Rockin' Hot Flush, Prehistoric Pals Braciosaurus and Triceratops)

Normal transmission will resume shortly

2009-04-11T15:55:00.000-07:00

Normal transmission will resume shortly, once I've sorted out my camera issues. Any suggestions for a new one?

In the meantime, Mr Wriggly has agreed to be my test pattern.

(Copyright Pia Solberg)

What madness is this?

2009-03-18T19:16:00.000-07:00

For some reason, my rapidly approaching return to work has caused me to undertake some crazy stash enhancement. Below are the most recent acquisitions.

Cherry Tree Hill sock yarn in Fall Foliage bought from Bec (Becboo on Ravelry)

Bruised Bloodwood 100% Baby Alpaca by Yarn Cakes

Merino Chubby Sock Yarn in Smoke from The Knittery's closing down sale - alas.

And a group shot including two yarns from Wired for Fibre in Hero and Baroque. My crappy camera cant capture the beauty of the dark purple of Hero and the plummy shade of Baroque.

Now the fun begins - what to make with all these lovelies?

Best foot forward

2009-03-07T00:44:00.000-08:00

There has been some knitting progress in Casa Joy and Widower. I've managed a whole Escher sock from the amazing Knitting Socks With Handpainted Yarn. Its a cornucopia of fabulousness and I havent been able to get the Escher off my needles quick enough. There are so many wonderful socks to make!

The amazing case of the vanishing Bijou

2009-03-06T20:33:00.000-08:00

Here is my Bijou, coming along very nicely thank you very much.

Here is my Bijou with the three needle bind off completed for the shoulder seams.

Decency laws prevented me from putting up a snap of me trying it on. (OK and my vanity too).

Current state of my Bijou, ready for round two in the next size up.

(Just so you know, the top photo has the truest colour.)

Disaster!

2009-02-25T14:49:00.000-08:00

Just when I have some promising shots of the progress of my Bijou, for some reason the computer keeps rejecting the usb cord for my camera! Ok, so it was the bottom of the market when I bought it a number of years ago, but that's no reason for the brand spanking new ferrari computer, as the Knit Widower refers to it, to keep calling it a reject. I'm now going to try threats, imprecations and thumping on the top of the hard drive. If these fail, I'll switch the damn thing off and give it some time to have a good, hard think about playing nicely with other electronic devices.

Holidays!

2009-02-16T19:12:00.000-08:00

Back from the annual beach holiday at Byron Bay. It was idyllic, as usual. Mr Wriggly and I spent a lot of time getting sand in our pants. He also spent quite a bit of time squidging sand between his fingers and toes, and when I took my eye off him, eating it too.

I finally finished Nikki's Selbu, and an rather chuffed at the way it turned out. Heres the mandatory inside out shot:

And here it is being modelled by the birthday girl herself!

Blackrose

2009-01-29T23:55:00.000-08:00

Ta dah! Another pair of socks. I am on fire!

These are Blackrose Socks from the winter edition of Knitty in Midnight Meadows Sundara sock yarn. I love this yarn, but it nearly had me beat. The varegiation in the dye is quite subtle and I wanted a pattern that would show it to its best advantage. I cast on a number of socks in this yarn which were frogged - Leyburns, Paul Attwell Socks and Charade, twice. Then I chanced on the Blackrose pattern. It is lovely! Just enough lace to be interesting, yet an ideal television viewing sock. However I did get slightly more than I bargained for when whipping up the left sock. I thought my stitch marker had disappeared, and then I found it knitted into the ankle of the sock. Alas, the marker had to be snipped.

And here is Mr Wriggly showing his latest wip - two bottom incisors!

I was going to wait

2009-01-24T14:21:00.000-08:00

I was going to wait until Middle Sister emailed me the photos, but I just cant. My Mum lives down the far south coast of NSW, and has been hoarding some of my knits to enter into the Pambula Show. She was holding off especially (and in the case of the Jay Walkers and Embossed Leaves socks three years) until the 100th Pambula Show. That was meant to be last year, but the equine flu epidemic lead to it being postponed.

So Mum entered four items of mine in the show: the first ever pair of socks I made, Jay Walkers natch,; a pair of Embossed Leaves socks in lucious cashmere sock yarn from The Knittery; Evie the Kim Hargreaves cardigan and Aunty Norma's Elm Row in Sundara Silky Fingering Merino.

And I cleaned up! Two firsts, a second and a highly commended. In my suprise I had to check with Mum that other people had entered. They had.

The prize winners were the Embossed Leaves Socks (no photo alas)for a wool item and Aunty Norma's Elm Row for a wool mix item.

Evie took a second for best knitted piece of apparel.

And the Jay Walkers took a highly commended, which I thought was rather generous given they were made during my pre-Kitchener, sew it all up anyhow phase.

Casting on fever

2009-01-17T14:00:00.000-08:00

Taking my cue from Knit Devil's Feel Like a Floozy KAL for January, I have the following projects on my needles:

The (possibly previously) mentioned Paul Attwell Socks:

A Selbu for Nikki:

Another pair of Rock and Weave Socks in Hot Flash (but I so want to call the colourway Hot Flush) for Liza:

Blackrose Socks in the much cast on and frogged Midnight Meadows Sundara sock yarn:

In in a fit of complete indulgence, I am awaiting the arrival of some red Classic Elite yarn to cast on my big project for the year - Bijou. It features lots of terrifying things, like short row bust darts. But I've decided as part of my New Year's Resolutions that I will read the pattern before I cast on so I dont repeat the chain of events that lead me to make my son into a hunch back.

My pretties

2009-01-10T16:15:00.000-08:00

This is what I was longing for while in Perth. Yes, here are some progress shots of my pretties.

Rock and Weave socks in STR Jewel of the Nile. I like the linen stitch, I like the pooling, and I love the star buttons!

Paul Atwell, looking rather sophisticated in some sock yarn I bought from The Knittery an age ago and cant remember what its called.

And some general eye candy from the Blue Moon Fiber Arts sale last year.

The truth about my Christmas crafting

2009-01-04T14:58:00.000-08:00

I took two projects to Perth for Christmas crafting. After rekindling my love of socks and following on from the success of the Leyburn experiement, I immediately cast on two other slip stitch based sock projects: the Paul Atwell socks and Charade socks. However in a moment of supreme foolishness I didnt pack them to go to Perth. Instead I packed a coat I am knitting for Lloyd and the hexagon blanket I am making for my friend Suzy.

I doubted my choice the moment I packed them. Lloyd's jacket needs to be frogged as I misread the pattern. When I discovered my mistake, I thought I could bodgie up the shoulder seam to cover up the extra stitches. Suitably enough I was watching Richard III (as played by Laurence Olivier) when making this decision, and the resulting lumpiness will turn my son into a hunchback. Because of the construction of the jacket, I have to frog the neckband and a large chunk of the right front. The fact that its a baby jacket and therefore a small amount of knitting is not consoling me, I'm just not enjoying the project. I think it needs to hide out in my knitting bag until the weather gets a little cooler.

You'd think the hexagon blanket would be a plain sailing, fun project. I like the pattern, especially the bit where the hexagons are crocheted together so there is almost no seaming required. I'm making it in koigu that I bought ages ago, and I know my friend will the like the colours. The problem here is that I dont. Its too pastel for me, and I chose two colours that are quite similar and cant be placed next to each other. I think this one also needs to hide out for a while, and possibly be completely rethought. See my problem?

Still, now I'm home and back with my beloved socks. And a fab new dvd - Green Wing. I am planing on adopting some of Sue White's management techniques on my return to work later in the year. Actually Green Wing isnt helping the knitting cause, as its so funny I laugh too much and lose my way. Luckily I've got some old eps of Miss Marple!

I laugh in the face of toe up socks!

2008-12-11T18:41:00.000-08:00

I laugh in the face of toe up socks. I sneer in the jaws of crochet provisional cast ons. I spit in the eye of short row toes. I scoff in the maw of short row heels.

Presenting the Leyburn Sock, which has broken down my absolute terror of the toe up sock.

A sleep through!

2008-12-08T17:21:00.000-08:00

An air of excitment has descended on Casa Joy and Widower. Last night our best WIP, Mr Wriggly, had a feed at 11pm and then didnt wake up until 6:30! Needless to say I got up at 4am to check his pulse. Who knows what tonight holds....

More guerilla action

2008-12-08T15:05:00.000-08:00

More guerilla action by guerilla stitch-up.

The return of socks - with added socksiness!

2008-12-01T14:23:00.000-08:00

Is there anything lovelier than socks? The way they cling to the arch of the foot and wrap close around the ankle. In fact the only lovelier thing than a sock is, of course, a knee sock! The way they flow from the delicate ankle into the gentle fullness of the calf. No wonder the Victorians demanded legs be covered! The Spiral Boot Socks are especially lovely. I especially like the eyelets twisting around the leg, reminiscent of the seam in a stocking.

After a long hiberation, here is my version of the Spiral Boot Socks in Cherry Tree Hill Foxy Lady. I used one skein per sock, which really shows. While both skeins are from the same dye lot, one is way more saturated than the other. The darker one is clearly a Foxy Lady on her way out for a good time, and the paler one is the Foxy Lady the morning after. Still, I'm pleased with them and they are a continuation of my fraternal paired items. (See Swapies for an explanation.)

The first of the Christmas presents

2008-11-24T14:56:00.000-08:00

I've been furiously knitting away on a number of Christmas gifts, justifying it to the Knit Widower in the name of thriftiness, but secretly to get in as much legit knitting as possible. The KW has tried to institute a new household rule. The only successful one we have ever had is a recent one - whoever finds the dirty nappy changes the dirty nappy. The proposed new rule - 50%. That's right, the KW is demanding that he get exactly the same amount of time spent on him as knitting. Hah! Am currently pioneering cuddling while knitting, which with dpns is a dangerous game.

Anyway, here are a couple of snaps of Christmas gifts hot off the needles. Recipients will only be named when there is no chance they may use the internet.

First up - Aunty Norma's Elm Row in Sundara Silky Fingering Merino Winter Skies. Lovely, lovely, lovely.

Knit concurrently with another Shetland Triangle. I love this pattern. I added an extra repeat, but after blocking it I think I really could have easily added another. Still I wanted the triangle to be small enough for a light summer shawl and then be able to bundled up to use as a scarf in winter. The triangle is another Sundara SFM, this time in crimson.

More Christmas presents to follow....

Guerillas in our midst

2008-11-20T18:18:00.000-08:00

There has been a bit of a buzz in the media recently about guerilla gardening. Its a great idea. I'd mainly heard about it in relation to people using grass verges to grow veggies. However yesterday the grubby square at the end of our block got a more commercial guerilla garden make-over. Initially I thought it was local council finally returfing the area, but then I notice the uniformly good looking young people doing the digging and the presence of tv cameras. It turns out that Channel 10 has commissioned a guerilla gardening show. The producer was saying that they've done sites at Bankstown and Ashfield and Killara, and that the only one that had been vandalised, and revandalised after they had fixed it up, was the site at Killara. (For those overseas, Killara is an affluent suburb on the North Shore of the harbour. The other two suburbs are in western Sydney and are much more multicultural and working class.) Anyway, they did an excellent job, as you can see from the snap. They put up the bandstand structure, turfed the site and put in lots of other plants (which may be recycled by some less scrupulous locals as Christmas presents).

There has also been a little outbreak of guerilla knitting in Newtown too. I've walked past this pole for about two weeks now, meaning to take a photo of it. I found another one yesterday, but when I went looking for it today I couldnt find it. Who knew about these guerillas in our midst!

Knitting is not the only craft, and the renaming of the Squeeze

2008-11-17T19:09:00.001-08:00

Knitting is not the only craft - well in our household this week anyway. I've been painting Mr Wriggly's room. It occured to me as I feverishly sugar-soaped walls, masking taped corners and slapped up paint during the young lad's naps that I should have done this before he was born. It would have taken a full day or two at the most. Instead it has spun out to almost a week.

Still, some of the delays were unforeseen. While sugar-soaping I discovered a bubble in the plaster. I brought it to the attention of the Squeeze, who before you could say 'Knit Widower' (which he is demanding to be called these days), had stuck his fingers through it and discovered a huge crack running from the inside of the room to the outside wall. This explained the mystery leak in the downstair's ceiling.

I left the Knit Widower to work his blokey magic and fix the crack he had so merrily excavated out the second story window. I came back later to find him hanging out the window with a trowel in one hand and using his other hand to stuff fistfuls of cement into the crack. "You may have knitting" he called down to me, " but I love cementing!"

It occured to me then that I had actually married McGuyver. I have seen the Knit Widower scamper up a makeshift ladder in a storm, lash himself to the chimney pot with a scaly bit of old rope he found abandonned in the back lane and calmly fix cracked roofing tiles. Then there is legendary time he and his mates were riding their motorbikes from Sydney to Philip Island for the Grand Prix and one broke down. He fixed the bike with some chewing gum and one leg off of a pair of pantyhose. What they were doing with a pair of pantyhose on that trip is more of a mystery to me than how he actually used it.

Anyway, painting a room for Mr Wriggly has allowed every member of the household to engage in some form of craft. Here is a quick snap of the finished product, and chance of me to flash my Babette once again.

Swapsies!

2008-11-06T19:29:00.001-08:00

I've just participated in my first ever swap! It was a 100 gram challenge, coordinated by Bumpy. Yesterday I received a lovely package from CelesteM containing a Beechwood Cowl and all sorts of lovely goodies.

I made a pair of Transition Gloves for Sonia, who said she loved all things pink. The exact colour of the contrast caused much debate in our house as to whether it was pink or purple. In the end we settled for fuschia. I've been wanting to make these for ages. The construction of the thumb was particularly satisfying and I love the way the ribbing branches out so neatly.

However, (and Sonia if you are reading this, cover your eyes. But then again, you probably have already realised this), somehow things happened so that the pattern on each glove is completely unique. Yup - despite following the same chart for both, they are fraternal rather than identical gloves. And as with those things fraternal, it turned out that one glove is mysteriously about one centimetre longer than the other. I had hoped blocking would shrink one and stretch the other. Lets put it down to sleep deprivation and not look at the finished product too closely.

On the home front, Squeak has been suspiciously well behaved. Perhaps it has been the arrival of a crochet blanket from Big Sister (aka The Crochet Queen). Despite the warm weather, this has been the place Squeak has been completely unwilling to leave. Except to fight the neighbourhood dogs, of course, and her nemesis, Greg, the big orange cat from next door.

Seasonally inappropriate gift

2008-11-01T02:43:00.000-07:00

After using the excuse of a good friend's birthday to justify getting my hands on some Malabrigo in Ambrosia, I couldnt resist making another cowl. So, heading into a hot Australia summer, what better birthday present for a person born in November than a Zig Zag Cowl? And an Elk broach to make up for not being able to wear it for at least six months.

Educating Mr Wriggly and a squid for Bosco Johnston

2008-10-21T16:43:00.000-07:00

It occurred to me the other day that nearly every baby I know is a boy. For example, of the 15 babies at mother's group, only four are girls. Taking this personal observation and broadening it in the most unscientific way I can only conclude that 2008 is year of the boy, and hence Sydney's man drought is being solved even if it will take 20 or so years. This is a heavy burden. Mr Wriggly needs to be sensitive, thoughtful, manly and know which is the business end of a mop. To this end I've been demonstrating the use of many household cleaning implements to him and carefully explaining the link between men, housework and happy marital relations. The washing up scrubber is a favourite which can only bode well for the future.

Mr Wriggly has made some new friends, boys natch. He, Karl Marx and Leo Trotsky-Tolstoy (well what did you expect with all that fight the power saluting going on?) have all been hanging in the local park indulging in pants-free-kicking-time. Exhibit one - a bottomless photo.

In keeping with 2008 being Year of the Boy, Mr Wriggly is awaiting news of the birth of his friend Bosco Johnston. I've been making a present for Bosco, something every boy needs, a giant squid of course. Here are a couple of progress shots. Its touch and go who is going to arrive first - squiddy or Bosco.

Just heard - Bosco has landed! Congrats Simon and Mel!

Edited to add Bosco's Giant Squid.

Stash enhancement

2008-10-13T18:22:00.000-07:00

A rainy day, a sleepy baby and new stash enhancements! Heaven!

Hot from the mailman this morning, Sundara Sock Cerulean Seas and

Sundara Sock Deadly Nightshade.

They are joining their other stables mates, Sundara Silk Lace Granite Falls and Sundara Sock Midnight Meadows.

I cant wait to use these babies!

I've been nominated!

2008-10-09T16:53:00.000-07:00

Disco Knitter has nominated me for one of these:

She actually did it a while ago, but I have only just (touch wood and any other available lucky object) emerged from a three week round of getting up hourly to every two hours as Lloyd has been having such noisy REM sleep its been waking me up. We are talking sleep screeching here. Yup screeching while sleeping. I cant imagine what sort of dreams the poor boy is having.

So without further ado, here are my nominations:

Knitdevil - what's not to love? Music, cool craft and 'tude. Also her hilarious blog comments and invaluable advice about blocking and the trickiness of gauge. Love ya Madge!

Bells - probably her billionth nomination. I love her honesty, flower photos and prodigious knitting output. And Southern Summer of Socks

Rose Red - also probably her billionth nomination. Shoes, fabulousness and knitting. And also Southern Summer of Socks.

Random Knits - another billionth. Love her friendliness, encouragement, fantastic range of knitting and her bunny.

Kgirlknits - combining The Pixies, The Breeders, Bowie and knitting. And roller derby! Heaven!

Knitting on the Chaise Lounge - cool, arcane and with a picture of Paul Newman looking totally gorgeous.

And finally, a new blog discovery Not Drowning, Mothering. How can you not love a blog that uses such immortal phrases as "but of course, no amount of praline will stop your arse from itching" and reveal the sneaking schadenfreude of your coolest friends announcing the impending arrival of a sprog. Makes me laugh loudly enough to wake Lloyd every time. And in finding those highlights, I've just managed to wake my boy up.

Carmen Miranda

2008-10-02T16:57:00.000-07:00

For years my sole associations with Carmen Miranda have been fruit, frills and, for some reason, the dastardly United Fruit Company. Then along came Loani Prior's Wild Tea Cosies, and I knew that I had to make Carmen! During Lloyd's long cold 2am feeds when he was a new born, I mentally sorted through my stash, hoping to be able to create something gorgeous out of ill concieved purchases of novelty yarn. And surely enough, Loani's inspiration lead me to whip up Carmen. Who thought knitting and crocheting fruit could be so much fun!

When bloggers meet, and a master of the art of cuteness

2008-09-29T15:45:00.000-07:00

Recently I met with the Disco Knitter. This was my first ever meet up with a knit blogger. Imagine - lunch, adult conversation and knit talk!! Twas heaven! And Inigo provided a great role model for Lloyd by scarfing down beans and broccoli like they were chunks of chocolate. And Ms Disco Knitter has promised to introduce me to a whole new craft experience with a visit to Spotlight at Granville in the near future. Am saving up for the trip.

On the home front, things are well although Mr Wriggly has adopted a rigourous nightime schedule of waking or stirring every two hours. Its a killer, so its lucky he is looking extra cute at the moment. See exhibit one below. At the moment every night is an adventure. Its enough to make me knit fruit. And on that tantilising note, you'll have to wait for news of my next FO.

The biggest FO since 1988

2008-09-25T14:48:00.000-07:00

Presenting the biggest FO since 1988! Yes, that was the last time I knitted a cardigan. Now twenty years later, I've managed to complete another. Knitters, I present to you Evie!

Evie was a most instructive garment. I overcame my fear of armholes, pockets and button holes. I learnt to keep a simple pattern. And after I'd sewn her up, I learnt that I should have measured myself before I started knitted! But on the positive front, it was nice to learn that Kim Hargreaves' sizing is generous despite her use of waif-like models. As you can see, Evie is about two sizes too big for me. Luckily though, she is just about the right size for my Mum.... I can sense a Christmas present coming on...

The garment was completed courtesty of: a road trip to Byron Bay (in total about 20 hours of knitting), a road trip to Canberra (about 6 hours of knitting), the final two seasons of Arrested Development, Season Three of Shameless, Season Four oF Entourage and Seasons Three and Four of The Wire. (Yes, I am a teev addict.)

By popular demand...

2008-09-11T23:16:00.000-07:00

...and because I have no knit fodder, here is a photo of Mr Wriggly looking only slightly stunned.

And another of my two boys. Awwww.....

BTW 1 - subscribed to Thicket's email list last week and got a lovely package with some sample yarns in it. I hadnt seen Jo Sharp's Silk Georgette in Devon before. It is beautiful. I'm now on the hunt for a worthy project. Anyone have any suggestions?

BTW 2 - I had a live sighting of Sixandahalfstiches beautiful grey Lady February Sweater. I had recently faved it in Ravelry and was so excited to it in real life!

Stacked Eyelet Cowl

2008-09-04T22:58:00.000-07:00

Done!

A survey of ufos

2008-08-28T17:39:00.001-07:00

I have a number of ufos on the needles at the moment. Here they are:

From left to right: Hanami in Ebony Handmaiden Sea Silk; Spiral Boot Socks in Foxy Lady Cherry Tree Hill; Stacked Eyelet Cowl in Shrinking Violet Socks that Rock; Evie in Deep Rowan Soft 4 ply.

Dont the yarns look pretty? Shouldnt that, plus the fact that all of these projects are ridiculously close to being finished, inspire me?

Apart from an inspiration deficit, I'm also being delayed by having to take it easy on knitting at the moment. My elbows, wrists and hands are sore from the joint softening hormones that are still floating around in my body. This is exacerabted by lugging around the 6.5 kilo Mr Wriggly. So, its very limited knitting for me for a while. Its killing me!

Ta da!

2008-08-18T15:56:00.000-07:00

And here it is [making flourishing gesture with hands a la game show hostess displaying prizes] - Flourish.

I think the hours of beading really paid off. Trust me, there are about 800 tiny shiny beads of the palest pink worked into the edging of the scarf.

To sum up - the Kidsilk Haze is lovely to work with despite being hairy; Flourish is light yet feels like it will be warm enough to fend off the early spring chill; and it is gorgeous enough to glam up the outfit that I can fit into, thus making it wedding-worthy. Thats a triple thumbs up from me!

Beading - argh!

2008-08-16T14:01:00.000-07:00

Am doing the beading on the second of florish's edges. It looks great, subtle yet shiny. But it goes on and on and on.

On an unrelated note, here is Lloyd's message for the week. He says 'fight the power!'.

Snatching defeat from the jaws of victory

2008-08-06T17:14:00.000-07:00

Equ, Australia's leading sock model who relocated to the International City of Love, Canberra, is getting married at the end of the month. I've been grappling with the problem of what to wear to a glamourous afternoon garden wedding. My outfit needs to combine warmth (the ceremony will be outside), glamour (natch), fit over and preferrably disguise the extra kilos I'm still carrying (possibly wishful thinking) and be breastfeeding capable. I think the key to this is basic black and a gorgeous accessory - other than Lloyd aka Mr Wriggly.

Remember flourish? This scarf combines warmth, glamour and kilo-hiding coverage! Its been languishing in the stash box, half finished because I ran out of enthusiasm for the endless edge beading. I exumed it, consulted the pattern book just to confirm the stitch when the very first sentence of the pattern struck me. There, in bold, was the instruction to use two strands of Kidsilk Haze. Two strands! Argh! And I'd been wondering why there seemed to be so much yarn included in the kit, and why my scarf seemed thin in comparison to the lush, voluptuous one in the photo.

So I've been carefully and slowly frogging, trying to ensure I dont strip the fluff from the yarn. Actually its not as bad as it could be as the crochet is very loose and lacy, and the scarf hasnt been handled much so with a bit of gentle persuation it comes undone.

Talk about snatching defeat from the jaws of victory.

Shrunken heads

2008-08-03T16:13:00.000-07:00

When I was child I saw a shrunken head at a museum. I cant remember which museum, but I suspect it was the Australian Museum in Sydney. The head was about the size of an orange, with stitched up eyes and mouth, and the hair seemed shockingly long. I remember being particularly impressed with the idea that the shrinking was induced by stuffing the skinned head with hot sand.

The memories of the shrunken head sprang to mind when I finished the Red Light Special. I thought something looked a bit wrong, and when I tried it on I realised that unless my friend had a shrunken head, he wasnt going to be able to wear it. Infact the only person in the house who could reasonably model it was Eric the Easter Island Statue. And even he doesnt look too happy.

So, what to give my friend for his birthday?? Woolly Wormhead to the rescue! Ferreting around in my stash produced some lovely Morehouse Merino that once upon a time had been intended for children's mittens. (This was before global warming.) Some quick knitting during Lloyd's sleeps produced a nice, basic beanie which fits a normal adult head. Phew.

An actual FO and an almost FO

2008-07-30T22:29:00.000-07:00

An actual FO! I forgot it in the excitment of my previous post! Here are the finished socks for the Squeeze. If you look carefully in the background you'll see evidence of the enormous amount of little visitors that we've had recently.

And here is my holiday knitting and reading. Barry Maitland has written a number of books*, and they are all excellent. The Redlight Special is coming along ok. The pattern is a breeze, but I'm not entirely happy with my slacker's decision to use Noro sock yarn instead of using acutal different coloured yarn in order to avoid weaving in lots of ends. If I made it again using Noro, I'd choose specific colour sections instead of just letting it come what may. I'll post it again when its an actual FO.

*If you like crime fiction. My favourite is Silvermeadow, where he manages to evoke all the terror of the forest in medieval times in a modern day shopping mall.

West coast charm offensive

2008-07-30T18:50:00.000-07:00

Little Lloyd has been sweeping all before him in his west coast charm offensive.We've been in Perth for the last two weeks meeting and greeting Lloyd's extended family. During this time he has learnt to smile, gurgle, wriggle even more, kick like a mule and generally be adored by all who behold him. (No, despite there being crossover time between us leaving for Perth and the Pope being in town, there wasnt a guiding star in the sky.) Here is Lloyd in one of his visiting outfits. I especially like that he's coordinating his hair style, the baby mullet, with his shirt.

We stayed a couple of days in Fremantle, which was ace. The old part of Fremantle is fabulous. Its filled with old buildings

enigmatic shops

and archane institutions.

Not to mention the shopping! Got these skirts from Hustle.

And these boots from Bob's. They made me think of Rose Red, Supergirl and Wonder Woman. I can do anything in these boots!

And the winner is.....

2008-07-08T17:47:00.000-07:00

While I used a scientifically validated method to decide the winner (ie drew a name out of those who called it for Lloyd), I'd like to specially mention Charisse for her judge-inducing comments that Lloyd is adorable, and Lara for her words of wisdom that babies grow while screaming, while socks tend not to grow while babies scream

Anyhoo - heres the proof of who is longer, Lloyd or the sock:

And the winner is Lara! Email me Lara and let me know which skein you'd like. The runner up (drawn from everyone who commented) is Chris. Drop me an email Chris and I'll send you the remaining skein.

It was a close run thing there for a while - until Lloyd stretched out his long, long legs. Personally I would have bet on the sock, but now I know where all the energy gained from feeding every 2 - 3 hours is going. He reminds me a bit of Inspector Gadget with his 'go go Gadget legs'!

The socks are almost done - proving a number of things to me. Its still a joy to make socks, they should not be so entirely absent from my wips and theres time to squeeze knitting in around the edges of the round the clock feeding cycle. Now to find some knitting patterns for little boys. Anyone have any suggestions?

Return to first principles, and a competition!

2008-06-29T21:01:00.001-07:00

Its been a long time since this blog has seen any sock action. Because I dont have the attention span for anything more complicated than some rib, and because its been a long time between socks for the Squeeze, I've been mindlessly ribbing and enjoying the simplicity of the sock. Just to make things even more colourful, I've been striping the Sour Apple with Noro sock yarn. This is in part because the Squeeze has huge feet, and also because the Noro is hand wash only, which wont be happening, so its an attempt to avoid wholesale felting. It certainly is bright.

To celebrate Lloyd's first month, and a return to sock knitting, I've decided to give a choice of a skein of Sundara sock yarn (colourways below) to the person who can guess which is the longest - Lloyd or the Squeeze's sock. Just include a guess at the length of each in a comment on this post. To give you all a hint, Lloyd was 56cm at his last measurement a week ago, and the sock includes a generous mid ankle cuff and a big foot.

The Sundara sock yarns are Candied Chrome...

... and Charcoal over Emerald. The winner will be posted on Tues 8 July. Am happy to post yarn overseas.

Master crafter

2008-06-29T20:49:00.001-07:00

Check out the cot blanket Aunty Bonnie made for Lloyd. She does the most exquisite embroidery and beading. (Needless to say when she gave it to me it was beautfully folded and not the slightest bit creased.)

There was some debate as to whether the little critters are bunnies or koalas, but in the end we were all leaning towards to bunnies.

The strawberries are beaded and the details on the bunnies are picked out in very fine gold thread. Now, my personal challenge is to strike a balance between keeping it clean and using it.

Before and after

2008-06-18T17:42:00.000-07:00

Its no exageration to say that Little L has turned our world upside down. 8:30pm is now a late night, while 1am seems like a dark version of midday. This can also be visually represented through my current wips. Behold:

Pre L: I was racing through the basketweaves section of the Hamani stole (Haidmaiden Sea Silk in Ebony).

Post L: Have cast on for a sock for the Squeeze (Sour Apple Sundara sock yarn). This has taken the best part of a week - however to be fair it has returned from the frog pond twice.

I also got a couple of treats that I'd ordered a couple of weeks ago. The arrival of the swift and ball winder has made casting on for new projects temptingly easy as it no longer involves winding things on by hand.

And I couldnt resist this tree broach by Elk. Jewellry is an excellent treat when almost none of your clothes fit!

The Wriggler has landed

2008-06-13T20:06:00.000-07:00

Introducing Lloyd, who arrived at 2:33am on Monday 9 June 2008.

He is 3.7 kilos, or 8 pounds 4 in the old system, and is 52cm long. When he was being born it was a little like the cheesey old magician trick of pulling the endlessly knotted silk scarves out of a pocket. He just seemed to go on and on and on. How could a half metre long baby be inside me? Still, it does explain the indigestion.

We are now settling into being at home and having the world revolve around Lloyd, rather than Squeak, who seems to be taking it all in her stride.

FOs - despite the weather!

2008-06-03T16:38:00.000-07:00

I wondered where Squeak was this morning. Usually she is in residence at the end of the bed, complaining loudly should anyone dare to disturb her. So, where's the supreme ruler of the household to be found when not on her royal bed? Yup - you guessed it.

Its another wet, rattly day here, so the swallows have had to do background duty for the Shetland Triangle. All the coverting of the pattern didnt go to waste, and yes Madge, there are other yarns than Sundara (although am thinking of her for a second one!).

As for the Wriggler, well 'B' day is tomorrow, 5 June. According to Mum we all arrived on time, which for a couple of my siblings is probably their only experience of punctuality. On my fourth loo visit at about 4am this morning I had a numerology moment and thought that the Squeeze was born on the 15 (1+5 = 6) and I'm on the 24 (2+4 = 6), so obviously the baby will be born on 6 June. Regardless, the Wriggler will have to come out soon as theres not really enough room for both of us in this body. Will keep you posted.

Caterpillar to butterfly

2008-06-02T21:42:00.000-07:00

When my Mum saw my aunt's Orchid Lace scarf she remarked, rather enviously, that she'd like one too. I though one Orchid Lace grafting fiasco per year was more than enough. I'd been eyeing off the Shetland Triangle for some time, and while the idea of making a triangular lace scarf was a little daunting, this just flew off my needles!

I found some 4 ply sock yarn called Roses from The Knittery in the stash that was just a little too fine a gauge to my liking for socks, yet it was just right for this. When the Triangle came off the needles it reminded of a tiny manta ray, or those shrinked chip wrappers that were so popular in the mid 1980s. Small, perfectly formed, yet so wrong. (Yes - that is my belly poking in on the bottom edge of the photo. Oh, and some snagless stickmarkers that had just arrived from The Wool Shack sitting in the middle.)

Enter blocking! I really like how the slightly variegated colour shows up in the lace, however I should have either gone up a needle size or knitted a more relaxed gauge as blocking has included some bouts of wrestling and cussing.

Its been pouring here the last couple of days. Once the Triangle has dried, and theres a little more light, I'll post the FO.

Another Sundara yarn, another birthday present

2008-05-29T20:24:00.001-07:00

My sister's birthday is four days after what is being called 'B Day' in our house. I'm pretty sure all my nesting energy is being channelled into crafting, because I managed to churn out this Tudora in Sundara's Blooming Fuschia silky aran. I'm inordinately pleased with it - and am thinking that I'll have to have one myself. Its warm and buttery against the throat, soothing without strangling. Hmmmm mmmm! (Although its probably not meant to be worn with a v-neck.)

Gust

2008-05-26T20:24:00.000-07:00

Oh Gust. I wanted you to look like a breath of wind on the ocean, and neither your pattern or your yarn disappointed me.

This is for a special person's special birthday in the next couple of months. I thought I should seize the uninterrupted craft window that I currently have and try and get a couple of winter birthday presents out of the way.

Specs: Gust - by Anne Hanson. Is there anything this woman cant design? Yarn - Sundara Seasons silk lace in cornflower. Is there anything this woman cant dye? No mods - although on reflection I probably would add a couple more pattern repeats for a little extra length.

Conversation with a friend's three year old

2008-05-25T18:16:00.000-07:00

Went to a friend's bbq last night and had a most entertaining conversation with her three year old, Tom. It went like this:

Tom: You are _very_ fat.
Me: That's because I'm about to have a baby.
Tom: How many babies?
Me: Just one.
Tom: Are you sure?
Me: Yes.
Tom: Is it dead? [Tom's mother mouthing 'Sorry']
Me: No, I can feel it moving.
Tom: How will it come out?
Me: Through my vagina.
Tom: Can I have a look? [Tom's mother puts head in hands]
Me: Not right now, because the baby isn't coming out yet.
Tom: Ok. Would you like my sausage? [Holding out pre-munched sausage sandwich]

Indulge me

2008-05-21T17:07:00.000-07:00

One last shot of the Babette. I really am so pleased with this project!

Stash addition + best baby name ever

2008-05-20T20:45:00.000-07:00

Despite my best intentions, the stash is still growing. Heres one of the latest additions - some beautiful 50% silk, 50% merino aran weight Sundara yarn.

Its destined to be a dazzling version of Kim Hargraves Haven, for my sister's birthday. Hopefully I'll get it done in the ten days or so before the baby arrives.

Speaking of which, a friend has suggested a new baby name that works well with Lowe. Jigger. The neighbours have become alarmed at my laughter. I love how the spelling even looks Aussie. Thanks Drew!

Babette! Done!

2008-05-20T20:25:00.000-07:00

Phew - the final double crochet edging around Babette has finally been done! Heres the last set of granny squares waiting to be sewn up. It really was worthwhile blocking them. Made sewing up much, much easier, and while the final outcome could never be called square, it has a pleasing eveness that soothes the inner pedant.

Babette in situ. Reminds me a bit of Klimt.

I can have a baby now.

What's in a name?

2008-05-12T17:34:00.000-07:00

We've been getting quite a few questions about what the Wriggler's name is going to be. The Wriggler will take the Squeeze's last name, which is Lowe. This has lead to the following suggestions: Mel, Hal, Will, Layla and a personal, thigh slapping favourite, Eamon* (thank you Uncle Tim). My favourite in the nominative determinism stakes is Digby, who will clearly become a world famous archaeologist. Then there are the Squeeze's suggestions. He is a huge Star Wars nerd, and so it keen should the Wriggler be a boy to name him Hanso. If the Wriggler is a girl, he is keen on a stand alone Star Wars name - Chewbecca. Hmmmm. Note to self - do not let him fill in any forms unsupervised.

*NB Eamon is good name, just not combined with Lowe.

Swatching and crochet - who'd thunk it?

2008-05-03T23:47:00.001-07:00

Madge aka Knit Devil has discovered a new knitting deity. Swatchii, has 8 arms, blue skin and around her waist she wears a belt of 1,000 ill-fitting knit garments. Swatchii has been smiling on Madge as she casts on new projects with complete abandon. It is sensational to see!

Alas I have not been properly observant in my duties to Swatchii, and the Stern One has not smiled on me in relation to the large twelve row squares in Babette. In a fit of enthusiasm, these were the very first squares I made for the blanket, and didnt even think of swatching. Its crochet, right? It just slips perfectly off the hook, right?

Of course, now its come to seam up the sections, I'm realising that gauge applies just as much to crochet as to knitting, and for reasons of shapeliness a twelve row square really should be pretty much the same length and breadth as two six row squares, or six two row squares. This simple mathematical discovery has lead to this:

I've now almost redone the 12 row square. Heres a comparison of the old and the new, my gauge has changed considerably, and for the better I think. Its now much tighter, the stitches are more even, and even more importantly 2 x 6 = 12 no matter how I arrange the squares!

Post script - after blocking the new 12 row square, it appears I've still not pleased Swatchhi as its now that bit too small. I cant be arsed doing it again, so I'm just going to do another round in the same colour as the current last round. That should plump things out to about the right size.

And just so things dont get too claustrophobic and granny-square oriented, I noticed this nice reflection of the new rice paper light shade on the swallow.

Babette, coming together segement by segement

2008-04-27T15:44:00.000-07:00

Meanwhile, frenetic Babette action has carried on. Have managed to drag myself away from crocheting to quickly update you.

So far I have discovered that while it seem like scaling new heights in pendantry, it is worthwhile blocking granny squares. This is especially the case for me as my tension has changed from the beginning squares, where it was quite loose, to the later squares where it has become firmer and much squarer.

Seaming by sections is the way to go, otherwise the task of assembling the squares according to the key would assume the scaling of decoding the Rosetta stone.

Finally, heres a shot of the dining room table. Yup - its chaos. But laying out the work in progress seems to be fuelling the crochet fires. You can also see crocheting necessities - dried cranberries, the spray gun, a talking book (An Accidental American), and some evidence of the Squeeze doing boy-craft - the gaffer tape and drill belong to him.

A post with no pics

2008-04-27T15:40:00.000-07:00

I had an ultrasound last week and was intending to post an ultrasound photo of the Wriggler. However the Wriggler proved to be its father's child and turned its back on the camera. It truely is a child of mystery, we couldnt see anything other than the back of its head, its back and its bottom. However we could see one, tantilising thing. The Wriggler has hair! No, not Austen Powers style body hair, although this would be in keeping with its air of mystery. Whispy, fine baby hair on its head! I suspect in this, the poor baby will take after me. Ultra-fine, ultra-straight hair, the scourge of hairdressers the world over.

Quick Babette update

2008-04-21T03:13:00.000-07:00

Oh Babette - I've beeen thinking about you when I wake up in the middle of the night (its much better to think about than work, which seems to be more demanding the closer my last day gets. Three weeks this week! Hurrah!). I've been crocheting in places I'm usually too inhibited to knit - doctors waiting rooms, the bus. Its such a treat watching the colours come together. Heres a little look at how she's coming along.

I'm thinking I'll contruct this segment by segment to avoid an enormous amount of blocking followed by an enormous amount of seaming. Anyone got any tips on sewing this one up?

New adventures in stash busting

2008-04-12T15:31:00.000-07:00

I saw a heartwarming movie called Lars and the Real Girl a couple of days ago. It was hilarious and tender and unsentimental. Double thumbs up. Lars wears as a scarf a knitted baby blanket that his mother made him. It got me to thinking that I really would like to make something for The Wriggler that is likely to transcend babyhood and continue to be useful and evocative.

I've been eyeing off Babette's Blanket from Interweave Crochet for a while. At first I didnt know if I was struck by the beauty of the girl or the blanket. But the colours of the blanket have stayed with me, and a quick tour round the Flickr group and ravelry convinced me that this was something that would be an excellent stash buster as well as beautiful.

So I ransacked the stash. It started out looking like this:

And unpacked, ended up looking like this. Its a combination of Sundara sock yarn, Socks that Rock medium weight sock yarn, The Knittery sock yarn, and some others that I had. Oh, ok, so a little supplementation went on courtesy Champion Textiles. But only a little.

Will keep you posted!

When you're on a good thing....

2008-04-09T15:53:00.000-07:00

stick to it! This week I've managed to whip out nearly two pairs of Evangalines for two very dear friends who live in the Blue Mountains.

Both sets of gloves are made from Noro Silk Garden, and while the colourways do tend to drown out the cable pattern, I think the gorgeous colour gradation makes up for this. The longer, pink 'n' purple gloves took just over one ball. I think if I cut back a couple of rows on the wrist band and finger band I wouldnt have needed the extra metre or so of yarn that went into the dark purple thumb band. The shorter greeny-mauvey-purplely gloves will take just under one ball. I used a stretchy long tail cast-on for both pairs, which also soaked up that little bit extra yarn.

Other things to love about Noro - the occasional burr left in the yarn even after processing, the scratchiness that even the silk doesnt temper, and Noro's signature - the big fat knot in the middle of the ball that introduces a completely new colour.

Dayflower done!

2008-04-01T02:21:00.000-07:00

Overcame my fear of outrageous yarn bleeding and plunged the dayflower into a basin of tepid water with the merest hint of woolmix. While it did bleed a little, it was more a case of watery-blood-orange rather than abattoir-outrage. Heres a detail shot while it was drying.

And heres a shot of me modelling it.

Mods - well none really other than knitting until I ran out of yarn rather than the 20 or so recommended repeats. I used the recommended needles, Tilli Tomas Rockstar in American Beauty. Nothing like some shiny red silk and shiny red sequins!

Dayflower scarf

2008-03-28T17:00:00.000-07:00

I seem to be working on a rush of scarves recently, or should that be a wrap of scarves? They are all gifts, although I've cast on the Lace Ribbon Scarf from the latest Knitty in Sundara's silky merino fingering in Winter Sky with no clear recipient in mind. Will post when decent progress has been made, but the colourway is intriguing. Under some lights it looks silver, in others grey and in others a pale, pale mauve. (So theres a partial answer to your question from a while ago Madge!)

The most recent scarf is the Dayflower scarf, which is a free pattern, and as Bells tells me, is available on Ravelry. (Will have to put my inability to find it down to the absent-mindedness which is biting deeper as the baby gets bigger. I even forgot my mobile phone number the other day!) I have had a ball of Tilli Tomas Disco Lights in American Beauty tucked away in the depths of the stash for about 12 months now. It was an impulse internet purchase after a torrid day at the office. I wanted to make a scarf with it, and wanted a lace pattern than wasnt too fussy.

Enter the Dayflower. The silk yarn gives beautiful stitch definition and I love the narrow, regular repeats of the pattern. It reminds me of an art deco edge design for some intensely patterned floral wall paper. And the intense, saturated colour of the yarn is glorious.

However it is the intense saturated colour of the yarn that is giving me some pause for thought at the moment. The tips of my bamboo needles turned a dark shade of tan, and my fingers were distinctly pink by the end of the last day of complusive Easter knitting. I want to soak it to block it (yes, the blocking love affair continues), but am worried that the colour might bleed and loose its glorious intensity. Have snipped off a strand from the small bit of left over that might make a tiny trim for something, and am currently soaking it to test if the dye really does bleed. Will update later.

Easter knitting

2008-03-24T00:26:00.001-07:00

Just a quick snap of a work in progress. Well, two works in progress really. I'm sure you'll be able to distinguish one act of creation from one work of Easter inspired gluttony!

Equ and Evangeline

2008-03-20T17:35:00.000-07:00

Australia's leading sock model, Equ, has recently relocated to the international city of love, Canberra. Because I miss her and she is a top model who hasnt experienced a Canberra winter (cold, by Australian standards. That means you can actually wear hand knits.)I thought I'd whip her up a small, but glamorous present.

Equ, meet Evangeline.

I used Debbie Bliss Cashmerino Aran in what I'd call imperial purple, but is otherwise known as colour 330014. In terms of mods, I did six repeats of the cable to make a mid-forearm length glove rather than the almost elbow length.

Evangeline is a lovely, quick and gratifying knit!

The Orchid Scarf, or the OK, the Good and the Ugly

2008-03-20T15:37:00.000-07:00

I've finally finished the Orchid Scarf, my first venture into the terrifying world of lace. Guided by advice from friends, various blog tutorials (particularly Eunny) and the Knitdevil herself, the Orchid Scarf flowed off my needles. It was also my first foray into lace blocking, and my love affair with blocking that began with the chevron scarf has been further fueled. How have I got by so far without this fantastic finishing technique?

The scarf is constructed in two parts and grafted together in the middle with Kitchener stitch. Conceptually so far, conceptually so good. The reality though is that I can tell which half of the scarf I knitted first, which is OK. The tension is reasonably even and really I am just being persnickety. The second half is good, and after blocking the two parts were virtually indistinguishable.

Now we come to the hard part - the ugly. I feel I need to be truthful about what I make, and it was especially tempting just to blog photos of the scarf arranged so as to cover up the graft.

Let me explain. I've only ever kitchenered sock toes before. Short and sweet with firm tension. (Can you see where this is going?) So I began grafting with gusto applying the same principles to this lovely, light, loose piece of knitting as I would a four ply stout wool sock. Luckily I was only about 12 stitches in before I realised my mistake, and then spent hours trying to reverse-kitchener. Its pretty tricky with a fine, dark yarn that has been pulled tight enough to frill. And then I had to undo some of the knitting because I'd managed to screw up the stitch order. And then I had to undone some more because I'd got lost. And then I got cranky, because I just wanted it done. And then nearly the whole afternoon had vanished. Anyway, after much bad tempered fiddling and doing the kitchener with my left index finger between the needles to make sure the tension was loose. It was finally done. But. Well. see for yourself.

I learnt a lot from this scarf - eg dont watch tellie shows with complicated plots when you are tired and expect to be able to knit lace at the same time; dont graft tightly; and while blocking has the power to make wonky things look much better than you ever expected, it wont cure them.

I'll post a pretty snap of the scarf later, maybe in situ around Aunty Norma's neck.

Chevron scarf - the verdict

2008-03-13T00:50:00.000-07:00

Behold the chevron in all its glory!

Blocking is splendid! Its really made this scarf something special, smoothing out the lumps and bumps, uncurling the edges, and softening the fabric so it feels peachy and drapes like a dream.

And here it is gift wrapped waiting to bring joy to its new owner.

Blocking the chevron scarf - a work in progress

2008-03-08T14:56:00.000-08:00

As usual, I've wildly over-estimated my ability to knit quickly. I hoped to be blocking both the orchid lace scarf and the chevron scarf this weekend. The orchid scarf feels mere moments away from being ready for the block, but in reality I'm thinking it will need at least another week.

Anyhoo - its probably for the best that I do my first ever blocking on something more sturdy, like the chevron scarf. Following Madge, the KnitDevil's, instructions to 'block it and block it hard', I began with a good long soak while the Squeeze and I went to the National Maritime Museum. (They have an amazing photographic exhibition on at the moment of Sitakunda on the Bay of Bengal, Bangladesh, where old ships go to die. Well, to be completely deconstructed and recycled to be more precise.)

Then home again for stretching and pining. I used the dining room table and a towel, but on reflection next time I'll try and find a blocking board.

Its still drying today, but that hasnt stopped Squeak from making herself comfortable amongst it all. She was rolling all over it when I found her, betrayed by the tinkling of her 'fun-police' bell. But as soon as I whipped out the camera, she came over all demure and claimed to be only sitting on the towel. Ha!

Delicious yarn for the weekend

2008-02-29T15:02:00.000-08:00

Its Saturday! Hurrah! And its Mardi Gras! And I received two lots of yarn in the mail this week.

Here we have Tilli Tomas Pure and Simple in Atmosphere reclining on a pineapple cakes box.

An here we have two offerings from Sundara's Seasons yarn club. Its a fingering weight in 50% merino/50% silk in Blossum and Winter Sky.

Gorgeous little things

2008-02-23T20:11:00.000-08:00

I couldnt resist these gorgeous little baby shoes from Evie Lala. Arent they just beyond?

Behold - the Little Owl Shoes

and the Little Mollybird Shoes.

I'm sure Rose Red would agree its never to soon to start inculcating a love of fine footwear.

Thoughts of scarves

2008-02-23T19:45:00.000-08:00

Prompted by that delicious hint of autumn crispness in the air, I've cast on two scarves. Sorry Evie my love, I feel like I am forsaking you. In my defence, even if I finish Evie quickly, I wont be able to wear her for months and months and months, plus, neither scarf is for me!

The first scarf on the needles is the Orchid Lace Scarf, for Aunty Norma for her 80th birthday. While Anne's scarf is a symphony of symmetry and precision, mine is looking a little mishapen and lumpy. I am hoping that it will emerge from blocking looking as elegant as the one on the pattern. As I've never blocked before, I'm a bit nervous about dunking my 100% Sundara limited edition and stretching it, but I'll seek advice from you all when the time comes.

Second on the needles is last year's scarf superstar - the Chevron Scarf. Every blogger seemed to be whipping one up out of Socks that Rock yarn. This was actually my introduction to the divine yarns produced by STR, and I order loads of different colour ways, cast on for myself a dozen times, but could never find a combination that did it for me. However a skein of Sundara sock yarn (courtesy her Seasons Yarn Club) in delphinium was lounging next to a skein of STR Stormy Weather, and between the two of the them they captured all the colours of a good friend's wardrobe. I was inspired to cast on again, and am rather pleased with my efforts this time.

Have any of you made a Chevron scarf? (Ask a silly question I'm thinking.) I've noticed that however much I fiddle with my tension, it tends to furrow as you can see in the photo. Is this another case where all will be solved by blocking, or do you think I need to adjust my tension again?

Belongil break

2008-02-16T18:48:00.000-08:00

Have just got back from a week at Belongil Beach, just next door to Byron Bay. We stayed in this fabulous beach house. Its been a very wet and cold summer in Sydney, and this translated into wet and warm on the far North Coast. So, lots of dvds, lots of progress on Eva and lots of swimming or as 20 month old Pela called it 'wimming'. Wimming in the rain, theres a song in there somewhere.

Byron was at the epicentre of the Australian Age of Aquarius, and while the hippies have moved into the hinterland, there is still lots of tie-dye, patchouli and crystal action. Swept away by holiday spirit, or possibly overcome by concentrated rose quartz vibrations, I had a photo taken of my aura. The aura reading found I was having an intensely creative, nurturing time and that my heart chakra was filled with love and joy. I bet my six month pregnant belly didnt hint at any of those things.....

Just to orient you, my arm is just visible on the lower edge of the left side of the photo. I had to rest my hands on metal pads to allow the camera to capture the colours of my aura. How do you think the colour spills were done?

So tiny! So delicate!

2008-02-05T22:29:00.000-08:00

A very good friend's mother has knitted these gorgeous little morsels for the Wriggler! There is in fact five pairs of coloured booties, each in a different design, as well as two pairs of white booties, two beautiful white bonnets and a matinee jacket with matching lace ball and bell design.

Handling the tiny, tiny booties has made us both very excited, but a bit daunted by the prospect that there will be feet to fill them.

Luckily I was able to find the perfect card to thank Annie for her lovely gift!

One, two, three, awwwwwww.........

Evie, you sweet sweet thing

2008-01-31T14:36:00.001-08:00

When I started knitting again as an adult I vowed never to do big projects. Only socks, and the occasional baby item for extra good friends. The last time I knitted a cardigan was in 1988 and it was a Jenny Kee designed commemorative bicentennial cardigan. While I havent been able to find a picture of the actual cardi, heres a little taster of some of Jenny's other 1980 designs. You'll be able to imagine it from there.

Making it actually taught me a thing or two about reading patterns and doing colourwork. I'd made about half the back before realising the design looked funny. After some more indepth thinking I realised that was because I was reading the pattern from left to right and had produced a perfect mirror image of the design. Hmmm. I think that Mum actually finished it for me. In the same year I went to Finland as an exchange student and took a side trip to Leningrad, as St Petersburgh was known at the time. (Yup am feeling old.) I ended up trading Jenny Key's vivid interpretation of bicentennial joy for a black fur Russian hat, which I still have.

So since 1988, no cardigan has ever been on my needles. Its taken me 20 years to move on from Jenny. But then I saw Evie. In all respects bar the centre front opening, Evie is the anti-Jenny. One colour, non-pastel, elegant fitted design rather than a boxy high neck square. It was love, I had to make her.

Progress on the vast (in comparison to a sock anyway) swathe of stocking stitch for the back of Evie was helped along no end by my newly acquired ability to knit and purl without looking, and the entire fourth season of The Wire. (If you havent seen this show, which is highly likely because Channel 9 buried it on a midnight slot, do yourself a huge favour and check it out.) Heres the waist detail on the back.

I'm now about half way through the left front, helped along by the first season of Heroes. The front requires a little more attention as the reverse stocking stitch ridging is carried on up the entire front of the piece. I cant claim to be a big fan of Heroes, but it is a very pleasant background to knit against. Heres the detail of the left front.

In summary, Evie is a joy because it has just enough detail to be interesting to knit without being arduous. I think the ghost of Jenny has been successfully banished.

Fight Club

2008-01-31T14:22:00.000-08:00

Poor Squeak. In defending her title of Baddest Cat on the Street, she went into a neighbour's backyard and took on their Jack Russell terrier. While the dog is smaller than her, its heavier, isnt walked and is chock full of energy. You'd have thought she would have learnt from her initial bout with him in December, which lead to an expensive vet visit. This time she came away with less injuries, although she had a puncture on her fighting paw. So, what's girl to do when her arse has been kicked? Curl up in the Washing Basket of Healing.

Years ago, when taking her to the vet for similar fighting injuries, he told me that the gene for the ginger colour is located on the Y chromosome, and ginger females were genetically sexually ambiguous and very rare. The he said 'Is she neurotic and territorial?' It was like he knew her! This is a cat who like to sit by our front gate and look demure until a dog comes past and she swats it on the nose through the safety of the wrought iron fence!

Culinary gems from the 1970s

2008-01-22T22:39:00.000-08:00

Inspired by Rose Red's posting Fifties Flashback, I thought I'd share a gem handed down from my mother in law. Does anyone know what these are called?

It formed the centre piece for a friend's Don's Party Party on November 22 2007. The kidlets at the party thought the green pickled onions where lollies. You can imagine the looks on their faces after popping an onion in their mouths....

Art in the back lane

2008-01-12T18:29:00.001-08:00

Since the Squeeze and I moved into our house about ten years, the back lane has provided a measure of the social dynamics of our suburb. The row of terraces, one of which is our home, was built in the 1870s, which makes our place pretty old by white Australian standards. The back lane, which my grandmother would call a 'night soil lane' provided access for the dunny men to come and empty the raw sewerage out of the tanks which sat below the outside toilets. We still have our outside lav, but its plumbed into the sewer line.

When we moved here the back lane still retained some of its original night soil functions. Local dog owners would let their dogs shit in the back lane, junkies would come and shoot up there and often do the same. You had to wear shoes at all time for fear of poo and needle-stick injuries.

Over the years though, the suburb has gentrified. Now you are more likely to find someone trying to park their convertible BMW there amidst the dumped 1970s style kitchen cabinets, discarded by people renovating their kitchens.

Recently New View Gallery arranged a street art project for our back lane, which has reincarnated it all over again.

I couldnt resist using it as a backdrop for some snaps of my latest knitting project. Its Evie, another Kim Hargreaves design. Here she is up against our back gate.

And here is a shot of the waist detail. Its a combination of purl and reverse stocking stitch. Could that be Horus lurking in the background?

Buttons!

2008-01-03T18:57:00.000-08:00

I've been visiting the local button shop, All Buttons Great and Small. Heres some of my loot.

Ponies, disco glitter stars and tiny shell buttons.

More ponies, faintly menacing kittens, cherries, lucky 3s and rockets to the moon!

The reality of Southern Summer of Socks

2007-12-30T18:41:00.000-08:00

For me, Southern Summer of Socks started with grandiose plans of knee socks. Theres something quite sexy about knee socks - the possibilities of lace, delicate ankle definition and the accentuation of that vulnerable area behind the knee. I collected a whole bunch of knee sock patterns, sourced the ideal yarns, and then got pregnant. Knee socks did not play a part in this, but morning sickness and fatigue meant that every time I looked down to read a pattern and then knit, I felt queasy.

Recently though I managed to turn out a pair of these for a friend.

Debbie Bliss Beaded Fair Isle Shoes from The Baby Knits Book. The mods are pretty obvious - no beading or Fair isle. They are made from medium weight Socks That Rock, In the Navy.

Inspired by the uber-quick knitting time, and first ultrasound pictures, I then whipped up this little number.

Debbie Bliss again, Hat with Topknot in some left over Jo Sharp DK from a lapsed felting experiment.

Finally - I've got my knitting mojo back!

The miracle that is waxed dental floss

2007-12-07T21:07:00.000-08:00

Theres been competing priorities in my home this week. De-flea Squeak, de-mould the bathroom, relocate the colony of Daddy Long Legs that have been drive inside because of the wet weather. Instead my time was spent threading tiny, tiny beads onto thin, thin hairy yarn to make the edging for Flourish. Sanity was saved, and household hygiene brought that one step closer by the discovery that the beads threaded smoothly when the yarn was trapped between a piece of doubled up waxed dental floss. Behold the power of the floss!

The return of Australia's leading sock model

2007-11-26T02:57:00.001-08:00

Back, by popular request, is Equ! Famous for saying "I dont get out of bed for less than $10 000", Equ made herself available for an impromptu modelling session for this half of a finished object.

One Spiral Boot Sock in Cherry Tree Hill's Foxy Lady colourway. (Actually I think it was the name of colourway that persuaded Equ to waive her fees and her policy of not wearing one sock at once.)

A word from Australian voters

2007-11-26T02:42:00.000-08:00

Dabbling in the Dark Arts

2007-11-13T23:15:00.000-08:00

Its true that I've lost some of my knitting mo-jo recently. While I still maintain that socks are a symphony of design and practicality, I've been finding that I've fallen for the siren song of the darks arts. Yes. Crochet.

I blame Kim Hargraves. More specifically I blame Flourish.

So you can imagine the excitement, not to mention the rush of creativeness and the challenge of new craft territory, when this package arrived yesterday.

Four balls of Kidsilk Haze in Pearl. 1000 shiny, shiny beads which are added in the final, flouncing layer of the scarf. How will I ever finish my Spiral Boot Socks for Southern Summer of Socks now??

Satan's stitchmarker

2007-11-05T13:42:00.000-08:00

Remember the troubled beginning of my Twinnings stole? Four times I cast on and four times I frogged. I'm the first to admit my counting skills have never been that great, but on my fifth attempt I noticed a pattern to my counting failure.

The pattern is six sets of a 16 stitch pattern. I'd put in a stitch marker at every repeat, and regularly at the fifth repeat, marked by a little green heart, I'd get either 15 stitches or 17 stitches no matter how careful I was. Hmmmm. On closer examination of the seemingly innocent green heart, I noticed that the ring on the marker wasnt completely closed. Yup, there was just enough room for a stitch or two to wiggle through as I worked the row.

I'm taking the view that those four previous attempts were good practice at the pattern, and now I'm making reasonable progress. Heres a shot of where things are at, with Satan's stitchmarker in situ towards the top left.

What's in a name?

2007-10-23T15:41:00.000-07:00

Rose Red has blogged about the name of my blog! Wow - blogosphere recognition!

The name of my blog is a play on the name of the 1970s sex manual 'The Joy of Sex'. Any one who is 30-mumble has probably seen a copy of this at some stage. I remember being about 8 and finding a well thumbed copy in a book case at my aunt's house. I was struck by the rather delicate line drawings and the fact that the people illustrated still had their underpants on. But the one thing from 'The Joy of Sex' that has stuck with me all these years is the drawing captioned 'The armpit - a classic site for a kiss'.

Anyway - there has been knitting progress to report this week. The spiral boot sock spirals on. From my optimistic beginnings of whipping this up in no time, I've been forced to concede that maybe its going to take me a little longer than anticipated. Still, I'm hoping to finish it this weekend and depending on the amount of yarn I have left, I might put a red toe on it.

Brought to you by the letter V

2007-10-16T01:07:00.000-07:00

Progress on all knitting has been slow so far this week. So instead of posting some photos showing minute amounts of progress, I thought you might be interested in these couple of shots from our honeymoon in Vietnam in August 06.

A lantern maker in Hoi An

Masks in Hanoi

We rode a tiny motorbike for over 1000 kilometres through the Central Highlands. Just to clarify, that is two people on one 100cc motorbike. While it might not have been the most traditional approach to honeymoon romance, the scenery was spectacular and it really took us off the tourist track.

Dusk at Buon Ma Thuot

The traffic was occasionally alarming, but it moved slowly enough to allow photos. That's our guide, Mr Thong, in the blue helmet just up ahead.

First of the summer socks

2007-10-10T03:47:00.000-07:00

I've just signed up for the Southern Summer of Socks. I've yet to set myself a target, but am thinking it might be to do with knee socks. I've started with the Spiral Boot Socks from Interweave Summer 07, using Cherry Tree Hill sock yarn in Foxy Lady. (Why does the name instantly make me think of Kath, from Kath and Kim??) Its knitting up quickly, I started this Sunday afternoon and reckon I'll be doing the heel flap by Friday. They are also going to double as a Christmas present, but to preserve the surprise the recipient shall remain nameless.....

Forbidden Lie$

2007-10-05T17:22:00.001-07:00

In 2001 Norma Khoury's book Forbidden Love was published. Its the profoundly shocking true story of Dalia, her Muslim best friend in Amman, Jordan, who was murdered by her father for falling in love with a Christian man. Norma fled Jordan and spent two years living in Greece in fear for her life. During this time she learnt English and wrote Dalia's story so that the world would know the truth.

The only problem was that it was all a whopping big fat lie.

I saw the doco about Norma Khoury, Forbidden Lie$ last night. Norma was by turns breathtaking, shameless and hilarious. Watching Norma reveal her many selves in front of the camera reminded me of peeling an onion, one layer simply stripped back to reveal another which stripped back again. See this movie if you can, and learn how a married mother of two on the run from the FBI for multiple counts of fraud managed to flee the States with a letter of recommendation from Dick Cheney's daughter, settle in Australia and pass herself off as a virgin refugee fearing for her life but bravely fighting for an extremely important cause. Its mesmerising.

Forbidden Lie$

2007-10-05T17:20:00.001-07:00

2007-10-05T17:02:00.001-07:00